BIOMASS PROGRAM

DESIGN CASE SUMMARY Production of Gasoline and Diesel from Biomass via Fast Pyrolysis, Hydrotreating, and Hydrocracking

SB Jones1 C Valkenburg1 CW Walton

DC Elliott1 JE Holladay1 DJ Stevens1

C Kinchin2 S Czernik2

The full report Production of Gasoline and Diesel from Biomass via Fast Pyrolysis, Hydrotreating and Hydrocracking: A Design Case is available online from Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The report was prepared in February 2009 for the U.S. Department of Energy. Complete report available online
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The design case summary was prepared by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of the Biomass Program.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory National Renewable Energy Laboratory

BIOMASS PROGRAM

Developing Design Cases to understand the cost of converting biomass to fuels

The Biomass Program is undertaking studies of biomass conversion technologies to identify barriers and conduct research to reduce conversion costs.

A diverse portfolio of conversion technology research, development, and deployment

The Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energys Biomass Program works with industry, academia, and national laboratory partners on a balanced portfolio of research in biomass feedstocks and conversion technologies. Biomass feedstocks are non-food sources of renewable material that can be grown domestically and in a sustainable manner. After harvesting, biomass feedstocks can be converted to valuable sources of renewable energy. The Biomass Program focuses its conversion technology efforts on creating biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower via two routes: biochemical and thermochemical conversion. In biochemical conversion, biomass is broken down to sugars using either enzymatic or chemical processes and then converted to ethanol via fermentation. In thermochemical conversion, biomass is broken down to a liquid oil or a synthesis gas using heat and upgraded to fuels using a combination of heat and pressure in the presence of catalysts.

Harvesting a hybrid poplar plantation. Photo courtesy of the Regional Feedstock Partnerships.

The Pyrolysis Design Case

Cost targets for converting biomass to renewable gasoline and diesel fuel

What is a Design Case?

The Biomass Program develops design cases to understand the current state of conversion technologies and to determine where improvements need to take place in the future. The best available bench and pilot-scale conversion data are integrated with detailed process flow and engineering models to identify technical barriers where research and development could lead to significant cost improvements and to calculate production costs. Past design cases focused on finding pathways toward cost-competitive production of ethanol. This design case is the first to establish detailed cost targets for the production of diesel and gasoline blendstock from biomass via a fast pyrolysis process.

Pyrolysis
Pyrolysis is a thermochemical process during which biomass feedstocks are broken down using heat in the absence of oxygen. This process produces a bio-oil intermediate that can be further refined to create renewable hydrocarbon transportation fuels. The decomposition occurs at lower temperatures than thermochemical gasification processes and produces a liquid oil instead of a synthesis gas. This bio-oil varies in oxygen content and viscosity depending on the feedstock that is used. A specific type of processing called fast pyrolysis involves rapidly heating the biomass in a reactor to approximately 500 degrees Celsius for less than 1 second. The bio-oil produced has to be hydrotreated in order to produce a liquid feedstock resembling crude oil. This bio-crude oil can be transported to an existing refinery and blended with petroleum crude oil. Blended oil then can go through the normal refinery process and Pyrolysis the resulting product is a mixture of renewable gasoline and renewable diesel that is nearly Biomass is broken down to to a bio-oil at lower temperatures than in identical to fossil-based gasoline and diesel. gasication reactors. Alternatively, renewable gasoline and diesel can The bio-oil is highly oxygenated be produced from a stand-alone operation. This and must treated to reduce oxygen stand-alone option is highlighted in the design content prior to hydrocracking. case.

Thermochemical Conversion:
Gasication

Biomass is fed into a reactor at a high temperature and turned into a gas. This synthesis gas (syngas) is primarily carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Syngas must be cleaned and conditioned prior to catalytic upgrading. Pyrolysis Design Case

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The Fast Pyrolysis Design Case
The fast pyrolysis design case represents technology that has been demonstrated at laboratory scales or is in the early stages of commercialization and includes advancements potentially achievable by 2017. All process efficiencies, equipment costs, and operating expenses were calculated assuming an established nth plant rather than a first-of-kind plant. A first-of-kind operation will likely have higher costs. The operating assumption was a feed rate of 200 tons per day of hybrid poplar woody biomass as the feedstock. Hydrotreating the bio-oil to reduce the oyxgen content requires a supply of hydrogen. For the 2017 case, the process assumed that the bio-oil would be hydrotreated using hydrogen produced from natural gas via steam reforming. A conceptual diagram of process steps to take the hybrid poplar feedstock from delivery to the refinery to production of renewable gasoline and diesel is shown in Figure 1. These steps include: 1. Pretreating the feedstock, including drying and size reduction. 2. Processing the treated feedstock using fast pyrolysis to create a highly oxygenated liquid product. 3. Hydrotreating the fast pyrolysis oil to create a stable hydrocarbon oil with less than 2 percent oxygen. 4. Hydrocracking the heavy portion of the stable hydrocarbon oil. 5. Distilling the hydrotreated and hydrocracked oil into gasoline and diesel fuel blendstocks. 6. Producing hydrogen to support the hydrotreater reactors. Pyrolysis is a process that breaks down woody biomass into bio-oil. The design case also considers the option of producing the hydrogen via biomass gasification.

Natural Gas

Steam Reforming Exhaust Vent Combustion Exhaust Hydrogen Off-Gas Hybrid Poplar Pretreatment Fast Pyrolysis Hydrotreating Stable Oil Hydrocracking and Product Separation

Combination Exhaust

Renewable Gasoline Renewable Diesel

Ash

Wastewater

Figure 1: The fast pyrolysis hydrotreating hydrocracking process to produce hydrocarbon blendstocks. This process illustrates a stand-alone renery. Other pathways exist for stable pyrolysis oil, such as blending with fossil crude oil and feeding into existing renery operations.
Pyrolysis Design Case

MASS
BIOMASS PROGRAM

Results of the Analysis

Based on experimental data, it is estimated that fast pyrolysis and diesel blendstock per hundred pounds of hybrid poplar of fuel per ton of woody biomass. This includes the input on biomass-generated hydrogen results in lower product

Table 1: Total Project Investment Cost for the Design Case Stand-Alone Plant. Cost, in million 2007 dollars $92 $81

processes can produce about 29 pounds of renewable gasoline feedstock at 7 percent moisture. This is roughly 100 gallons of natural gas during the hydrotreating step. Relying only

Contribution 30% 27% 10%

Fast Pyrolysis

Hydrotreating

Hydrocracking and Separations Hydrogen Generation Utilities, etc.

$29

yields. The basic assumption of the analysis is a stand-alone plant with the capacity to process 200 tons per day of woody biomass. This translates to a capacity of 76 million gallons per year of fuel production. To calculate the production cost in dollars per gallon of gasoline equivalents, the total cost of constructing and operating an nth plant (assuming the resolution of all firstof-kind expenses) was estimated using CHEMCAD process modeling software and other analytical tools. The total project investment cost for the design case stand-alone plant was calculated to be U.S. $303 million. The fast pyrolysis, hydrotreating, and hydrogenation components of the plant were found to contribute almost a third of the cost each, with the remainder for hydrocracking and utilities (Table 1). Using this project investment cost with additional heat and material balance information, catalyst cost assumptions, and 2007 energy prices, a cost-per-gallon of $2.04 was calculated. This represents the production cost of renewable gasoline and diesel fuel from woody biomass at the plant gate and does not include any costs downstream from the refinery. The largest single component of the production cost is the assumed feedstock cost of $50.70 per dry ton of hybrid poplar (Table 2). In the analysis, the possibility of substituting naturalgas-derived hydrogen with hydrogen derived from biomass was considered; however, this lowers the yield and raises production costs and was not considered feasible by 2017.

$86 $14 $303*

28% 5% 100%

Total Cost

* Summation higher due to rounding

Table 2: Economics for a Stand-Alone Pyrolysis Oil Production Plant , on an average annual basis. The main capital and operating contributions to the production cost are shown. 2007 dollars per gallon of product Feedstock (at $50.70 per dry ton) Natural Gas (at $7.68 per square foot) Catalysts and Chemicals Waste Disposal Utilities (Cooling Water, Electricity, Steam) Fixed Costs (Labor, Operating Supplies, etc.) Capital Depreciation Average Income Tax Average Return on Investment* Production cost, $ per gallon gasoline equivalent $0.48 $0.32 $0.15 $0.01 $0.17 Contribution 23% 16% 7% negligible 8%

$0.22 $0.20 $0.13 $0.36 $2.04

11% 10% 7% 18% 100%

Production Cost Ethanol Equivalent Basis, $/gallon 1.34 *Assumes a 10% after tax internal rate of return http://www.biofuels.energy.gov

BIOMASS PROGRAM

Sensitivity Analysis
A sensitivity analysis was conducted to determine the effect of uncertainties surrounding key assumptions on the production cost. Co-location with an existing refinery could lower costs. Financial and market parameters were varied, as well as research sensitivities. The financial and market sensitivites shows that the production cost is most sensitive to to the assumed Return on Investment (ROI), followed by the plant size, in tons per day (tpd) (Figure 2). The research sensitivities showed that the modeled production cost is most sensitive to catalyst cost, followed by delivered feedstock price (Figure 3).
Integrated: $0.56/lb H2 Integrated w Capital Upgrades Integrated: $0.75/lb H2 Integrated: $1.25/lb H2 0% Project Contingency 3% Project Contingency Total Project Investment +40% Total Project Investment - 10% Plant Size at 5000 tpd Equipment Spares 4x500 tpd Pyrolysis Units 0% ROI Plant Size at 500 tpd 30% ROI 3.70 3.80 1.50 1500 psig Reactor Pressure 800 psig Reactor Pressure 5 Year Catalyst Life 0.5 Year Catalyst Life $100/lb. Hydrotreater Catalyst $30/lb. Hydrotreater Catalyst Hydrocrack Entire Stable Oil Stream 1.60 1.70 1.80 1.90 2.00 2.10 2.20 2.30 2.40 2.50 2.60 2.70 2.80 2.90 3.00 3.10 $35/ton Feedstock 0.3 LHSV 0.1 LHSV $80/ton Feedstock

1.30 1.40 1.50 1.60 1.70 1.80 1.90 2.00 2.10 2.20 2.30 2.40 2.50 2.60 2.70 2.80

Product Cost ($ per gallon of gasoline equivalent)

ROI = return on investment tpd = tons per day

Product cost ($ per gallon of gasoline equivalent)

LHSV is the liquid hourly space velocity psig is the pressure in the upgrading reactor; the base case assumed reactors at 2500 psig

Figure 2: Financial Sensitivities to the cost of production of pyrolysis oil based renewable gasoline and diesel fuel.

Figure 3: Research Sensitivities to the cost of production of pyrolysis oil based renewable gasoline and diesel fuel.

Conclusions
The publication of this design case for fast pyrolysis of biomass to gasoline and diesel blendstock establishes a benchmark for the Biomass Program. By identifying key design capital and operating costs, as well as significant sensitivities to the cost of production, the program can move forward in setting research, development, and deployment priorities to speed the commercialization of this advanced biofuel technology. Production costs near $2 per gal (in 2007 dollars) and petroleum industry infrastructure-ready products make the production and upgrading of pyrolysis oil to hydrocarbon fuels an economically attractive source of renewable fuels. The program is directing a diverse portfolio of research, development, and deployment activities to achieve commercial production of pyrolysis oils. More information on project partners and technologies can be found by visiting http://biofuels.energy/gov. Development and commercialization of pyrolysis oils will help meet the mandate in the Energy Security and Independence Act of 2007 of 36 billion gallons (on an ethanol basis) of renewable fuel by 2022. Pyrolysis oils can also advance the Biomass Programs vision of a viable, sustainable domestic biomass industry that produces renewable biofuels, bioproducts, and biopower; reduces dependence on oil; provides environmental benefits including reduced greenhouse gas emissions; and creates economic opportunities across the nation.

For additional information, visit http://biofuels.energy.gov.

Pyrolysis Design Case

Complete report available here www.pnl.gov/main/publications/external/technical_reports/PNNL-18284rev1.pdf

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